


you might feel tonight is real

by Lake (beyond_belief)



Category: Disney RPF
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-07
Updated: 2010-08-07
Packaged: 2017-10-10 23:51:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyond_belief/pseuds/Lake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Totally PG-rated threesome, set during CR2 filming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you might feel tonight is real

There's a couch in Demi's dressing room and it's a really comfortable couch, and Joe's sure he spends more time on it than he does in his own dressing room. He's developed the habit of sneaking in with script in hand while Demi's gone, and going over his lines until she comes back from wherever she'd been. "Don't tell me you haven't memorized it all yet," she says today. Joe's sprawled on the couch with the thick sheaf of papers settled on his stomach. He's not actually looking at it anymore, but it's there just in case.

"I think I got it," he says, tossing the script aside and holding out his arms to her.

"Lunch is in ten," she murmurs, crawling on to the couch and on top of him. "As in, if we're not down there in ten minutes, someone will seriously come looking for us."

"Mmhmm," Joe agrees, and kisses her. It's not really a secret, not anymore, but it's not official either. Joe's already had several conversations with the PR person who stalks the set, to the effect of _No, I don't want some Disney corporate announcement about me and Demi_, and everyone else has basically told them that it took them long enough to get it together.

But what no one knows is that minutes after Demi returns, Nick will also slip into the room and join their tangle of limbs on the couch. This was the secret that Joe would do anything to protect, that he and Demi would do anything to hide.

He brushes his lips over Demi's now. "Nick joining us?"

"Should be here any second," she replies, sliding her hand up under his t-shirt.

"Mm, just long enough to get in the door before it's lunch." Joe trails some kisses over her neck, breathing in the sugary scent of her perfume.

"Yup."

As if on cue, the door cracks open and Nick slides through. Demi turns over, her back to Joe's chest. He wraps his arms around her waist. She holds hers out to Nick.

"Five minutes, seriously," Nick says, but he comes into Demi's embrace willingly enough. Keeping close track of time is part of how they manage to keep this a secret, but there's nothing Joe wants more than to have more than an hour of uninterrupted time with them, away from everyone.

Nick's weight pushes Demi closer to him, and Joe drops another kiss on her neck before offering his mouth to Nick over her shoulder. Nick kisses him softly, tasting like citrus, then kisses Demi. Joe buries his face in Demi's hair as Nick says, "My room tonight, yeah?"

Joe nods and Demi breathes, "Okay," and then it's time to untangle themselves and face the world again. Joe can't stop touching both of them as they get up and make sure they're mostly presentable; Demi swats his hand away mouthing _later_. But in the hall, she can hold his hand while Nick walks a few feet ahead of them. Sometimes the idea of the scandal it would be makes Joe's heart feel like it's stopped beating in his chest, makes his breath stutter and catch. It would be a million times worse than any Disney snafu before them. Even if he and Nick weren't brothers, it would be a scandal. Their careers would be _over_.

So they all know how important it is to be careful. And Joe, who knows he wears his heart on his sleeve, has to struggle to not touch Nick any more than he would have gotten away with before. He's glad Demi's not afraid to pull him away by the hand or distract him with a kiss. He does the same for her.

They get their lunch like usual, sit at their table with Kevin and Alyson and Chloe like usual, sweat through hours of dance rehearsal and blocking like usual. Then Demi ditches them for some rehearsal she's got with the rest of the girls, and Joe and Nick go back to the hotel that nearly everyone is staying at for the duration. In the dark of the back of the hired car, Joe feels Nick's fingers curl around his.

They don't speak until they're inside Nick's room. "I should only stay a couple minutes now," Joe says between kisses, "and then go find pajamas and junk food from the machines and some DVDs or something, so it looks like there's a reason I'm here if anyone sees me."

He does, hurrying, and then drops it all on the unused bed when Nick lets him back into the room. Then he climbs into Nick's bed with him. "Hi," he says against Nick's toothpaste-fresh mouth, and they kiss.

"You only saw me ten minutes ago," Nick replies. He slides a hand over Joe's chest and stomach, down around his waist.

Joe smiles at him. "I still miss you when you're not around."

"Liar," Nick laughs, but he kisses Joe again. Joe curls his hands in Nick's t-shirt. This part is still new to them, and part of Joe is still surprised at how much he wants this; how much he craves Nick's touch and Nick's kisses when they're apart. He needs to remember to thank Demi for not letting go of this, for insisting that they give this a shot. Joe can remember that Nick tasted like raspberry smoothie and Demi's vanilla lipgloss the first time they kissed. It hadn't been that long ago.

Nick kisses him yet again now, soft, like he's still not a hundred percent sure of what they're doing without Demi around. She likes to orchestrate - sometimes Joe finds it hilarious when both she and Nick try to be in control. Nick usually wins unless Demi is on a mission to get them to try something. Like that first kiss.

Joe slides a hand up to tangle in Nick's hair and Nick throws a leg halfway across his waist, sort of straddling him, mostly just getting closer. Beneath his palm, Nick's curls are damp from the shower he must have taken at lightning speed while Joe was gone.

Nick snuggles against him and they lay there trading kisses back and forth. "Want to watch some shows until Demi gets here?" Nick asks after a couple of minutes, and Joe maybe whines a tiny bit because really, he wants to keep kissing Nick like this, soft and comfortable until it suddenly crosses the line into frantic and messy. He thinks he might be ready to get frantic and messy with Nick. But he also wants Demi here for that, so he nods and they rearrange themselves again.

Nick commandeers the remote and flips through the channels for a while. Joe has experienced television in a lot of countries now, and is glad that most of what's on here in the outskirts of Toronto is in English. Nick stops on what looks like a soap opera in French, though, so Joe nudges him with his elbow until he finds something else.

Nick finally settles on some sort of procedural and Joe manages to follow along even though he'd rather be watching Leno. It's nearly over when they hear Demi's secret knock, followed by the sound of the spare keycard that Nick had slipped to her at lunch in the door. "You guys didn't fall asleep, did you?" she asks, slinging her bag onto the desk chair and placing her hands on her hips.

"Nope," Nick says proudly, but Joe yawns in her direction.

"Losers," she replies fondly.

Joe holds out his arms to her. "How was rehearsal?"

"Pretty good!" She shrugs out of her hoodie, leaving her arms bare in a strappy tank top and sports bra, and collapses onto the bed. Joe wraps her up in his arms. She's still slightly damp with sweat. He pushes her hair off her shoulders and kisses her neck.

She shivers and hugs him tightly, then maneuvers herself between them. "I should shower but I'm too tired," she says, barely stifling a yawn. "One minute I was pumped, the next minute, boom. Drained. Felt like I could barely pick up my feet to make it back here."

"I set the alarm for four," Nick says. "Joe, it's your turn tomorrow night, so make sure there's no socks in the bed."

"No socks in the bed, got it," Joe mumbles, snuggling closer against Demi and closing his eyes against the glare from the television set. "And four is way too early." He feels Nick move on Demi's other side. There's the click of the lamp being shut off, and then Nick's arm is flinging heavily over both of them and he makes a serious effort to pull them closer. "Nicky, unless you want us to be laying on top of you, we can't move any closer to you."

There's a pause during which Joe is sure Nick is considering it. He stretches his arm over the top of Demi's head and threads his fingers through Nick's hair, stroking his scalp lightly. He's got a good idea of what's running through Nick's mind right now. And it's tempting enough that Joe's breath maybe catches just a little, but they can't. Makeup is already complaining about hiding the circles under their eyes. "Four in the morning says that's not happening, Nicholas."

Demi laughs, bright and tired, and stretches between them for a moment. "Are we actually gonna watch a movie?"

Joe rubs his thumb in circles on her hip and says again, "Four in the morning votes no."

"Didn't you used to be the one saying we should stay up all night?" she asks. Joe opens his eyes to see her grinning at him. "Now you're just old."

"Shut it, D-Love," he grumbles and Nick chuckles. "Nick, you had the remote last."

There's the sudden weird absence of sound when Nick gets the television turned off, and Joe buries his face in Demi's hair. She hums happily, then turns over and snuggles against him, settling.

She falls asleep first; Joe feels her grip on his t-shirt relax, her even exhalations getting a little longer where she's breathing against his neck. Behind closed eyes, he runs through tomorrow's schedule, all the little things he has to do. He's slated for the recording studio, so he won't see either one of them at least until dinner.

"Joseph, go to sleep," Nick whispers, squeezing Joe's hip.

Joe rubs his thumb over Nick's forehead in reply. He wants to ask. It's a stupid question. He knows it. "Is this really what you want?"

"Joe," Nick says flatly. "That might be the dumbest question you have ever asked in the history of asking stupid loser questions. Yes. This is really what I want."

"Okay," Joe whispers back. "I just – had to know for sure."

"You know better than anyone that I don't do things only to make other people happy," Nick murmurs. He pinches Joe's hip. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want you both. Fiercely."

Joe shivers. "I love you," he says unnecessarily. Nick rubs his fingertips over the sliver of skin between Joe's t-shirt and pajama pants in reply, and doesn't say anything else.

He doesn't know what they'll do when filming ends. They haven't talked about it. Demi's place in Toluca Lake isn't far from theirs, but Joe's pretty sure there are only a handful of days they can spend in California before tour kicks off again. And he's not entirely sure how to deal with Nick like this without Demi around. But right now, he needs to sleep, because he needs to not sound like shit tomorrow, so he burrows deeper into the blankets, tangling his legs with Demi's and wrapping his hand around Nick's wrist. The bed is soft and Nick and Demi are so, so warm, and there's nowhere else that Joe would rather be. This can be easy and uncomplicated if he lets it. All he has to do is trust them.

Tomorrow, when he's sung so much he's hoarse, when he's trying not to tip forward into complete exhaustion, the memory of this will be what gets him through.


End file.
